UFC 192 : Review and results

Fight of the night

When the dust settled, UFC 192 ended up being a mixed bag of entertainment with the prelims being full of finishes and exciting fights but the main card apart from the main event contained dull decisions.

In the main event, Daniel Cormier retained his title in a closely contested bout against former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson.

It is definitely a fight of the year candidate and both fighters received fight of the night bonuses for their efforts. Albert Tumenov and Adriano Martins also received performance of the night bonus for knocking out their respective opponents in the very first round.

Key Highlights Prelims:-

– In the very first fight of the night Derrick Lewis, after losing the initial part of the fight, come back late in the round 2 and finished Pesta off in round 3 with some vicious ground and pound.

– Sage Northcutt was hyped up to be the breakout star of UFC 192 and boy he didn't disappoint at all. He wrecked Francisco Trevino in under a minute, without breaking a sweat and was all over him pouring down lightning quick shots. His speed and athleticism looks to be on another level. He sure is a superstar in the making.

– Rose Namajunas once again showed her super slick Jui-Jitsu game and got a standing RNC on fellow TUF housemate Angela Hill. Her killer instincts and ability to capitalize on the slightest mistake by her opponents makes her a relevant force in the women's strawweight division.

– Adriano Martin’s one punch knockout of Islam Makhachev was picture perfect. He now has back to back victory against Russian fighters from AKA.

– Albert Tumenov is a great fighter. His striking is crisp and effective. The combination with which he finished Alan Jouban was absolutely gorgeous. It's his 4th straight win in the UFC and he surely has validated a shot against a top-tier fighter next.

Key Highlights Main Card:-

– Julianna Pena continued her rise but failed to impress in her win over Jessica Eye. The only time eye was winning the fight was round two, but she lost a point for an illegal knee on a downed opponent. Pine, in her post-fight speech called out Rosy mentioning her undefeated record in the UFC. With this loss, I don't think there is a way left for Eye to get that title shot against Rousey.

– Ali Bagautinov and Joseph Benavidez had no impact whatsoever with their dull fight. Fans did not appreciate the fight one bit and booed during the entire fight. With a performance like this, it's hard to make a case for a title shot.

– Ruslan Magomedov showcased his very crisp striking against Shawn Jordan. He is fast, technical, but lacks big knockout power. The kicking game he displayed in later rounds was amazing, especially for a heavyweight.

– Bader got another win under his belt but didn't look like a world beater while Rashad looked awful in his return to the octagon. This was the 5th straight win by Bader, which puts him on top of the line for a title shot, but with Jon Jones’s arrival imminent its very uncertain where Bader goes from here.

– The main event between Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson was absolutely fantastic. It was very close back and forth fight in which each man had their moments. DC kept the pressure from the get-go and kept wrecking Gustafsson’s face with deadly uppercuts in the clinch.

– Gustafsson showed tremendous heart and took all of DC’s shots. He not only defended most of DC’s takedowns but also landed two of his own. When DC absolutely looked in control, Gustafsson dropped him with a vicious knee in the third round.

– In the final round, DC looked more determined to grab the victory and dominated the round and the fight on the whole with a champion like performance. It’s hard to imagine anybody else in line for DC’s title next other than his nemesis and the guy he wants, Jon Jones.